Ions traps are known in which ionized particles can be stored. Such ion traps can be used as mass spectrometers. By varying the trapping potentials, ions can not only be stored, but also be separated in dependence of their charge-to-mass ratio, wherein ions of a specific charge-to-mass-ratio are ejected from the trap when a certain voltage is applied. The ejected particles can be detected, and mass spectrometry is performed in this way.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,217,922 B2 describes a planar micro-miniature ion trap device that may be used for this purpose. The planar micro-miniature ion trap device includes a substrate, a first planar annular electrode, and a second planar annular electrode, both rigidly affixed to the substrate surface, wherein the second planar annular electrode is concentric with the first annular electrode. Ions injected into the device can be trapped above the center region of the first annular electrode and be selectively ejected by applying specific voltages to the first annular electrode.
While this ion trap allows trapping of the ions, no controlled manipulation of individual ions is realized.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,180,078 B2 describes a linear ion trap occupying a rectangular area over the surface of a semiconductor substrate. Arranged along the axis of the ion trap are two rectangular outer DC electrodes, axially segmented, rectangular central DC electrodes, and two rectangular radio-frequency (RF) electrodes between the outer and the central DC electrodes. By applying specific DC voltages to the axial segments of the central DC electrode the position of ions in the ion trap can be controlled.
The ion trap of U.S. Pat. No. 7,180,078 B2 enables a certain manipulation of ions, but only to the extent of controlling their positions by means of DC voltages applied to the segmented DC electrodes above which the ions are trapped.
However, controlled interactions between individual ions or groups of ions may not be realized. Controlled interactions offer the possibility to let ions interact in a desired way for a desired period of time and to substantially prevent interactions between the ions in during other time periods. Such controlled interactions can be important for quantum computation or the simulation of quantum systems.
Quantum computation can offer considerable advantages over classical computation. For instance, there are known quantum algorithms which, when executed on a quantum computer, can break the public key security system employed in many of today's cryptographic systems such as bank transaction systems. This task is believed not to be feasible for a classical, Bit-based computer. Similarly, a classical computer cannot simulate complex quantum systems exactly since the computational power needed for the simulation scales exponentially with the size of the quantum system. Simulation of quantum systems by other, controlled quantum systems is feasible on the other hand. A better understanding of quantum systems is important in many technological areas, in particular in technological fields where devices are of very small size and quantum effects cannot be neglected.
Prior art ion traps typically suffer from either being well isolated traps with a deep trapping potential, where ions cannot interact, or being coupled traps allowing interactions but having a shallow trapping potential that may not securely hold the ions.
Consequently, there is a need for improved apparatuses and methods for trapping charged particles such as ions, and for performing controlled interactions between these charged particles.